In “Is this Man Cheating on his Wife”, Wall Street Journal Writer Alexandra Alter writes about virtual infidelity. The piece profiles a married Second Life resident and his virtual wife. I couldn’t help but be reminded of a passage in the book “The Victorian Intent” by Tom Standage. Standage cites an article published in “Western Electrician” published in 1891 called “Making Love by Telegraph”. A frustrated wire operator finds intimacy while “working the wires”. I’m not going to comment on moral obligation, Victorian mores, or domestic issues. Transformative technologies however bring about spirited debate on these subjects and bring people far apart together. As Standage writes on page 127, “..within a few months of the electric telegraph being opened to the public, it was being used for something even the most farsighted of telegraph advocates had never dared to imagine: to conduct an on-line wedding”

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

-Dimitri